New app expected to save lives around Black Hills

The Rapid City Fire Department announced the launch of an app they say will save lives around the Black Hills.

PulsePoint is a mobile app designed to alert CPR-trained citizens to someone nearby who is having a sudden cardiac arrest. According to the American Heart Association, the survival rate nationally for a victim of cardiac arrest is 11%. With the app, people are alerted if they are in a quarter mile radius of where the call is made for help. Jason Culberson with the Rapid City Fire Department describes how the app works.

Rapid City Fire Department Divison Chief of Medical Operations Jason Culberson says, "If someone experiences a sudden cardiac arrest, someone will call 911. From that GPS location, or the address when they call our 911 dispatch center and then advise of what's going on, from there, once they have a verified address and then a sudden cardiac arrest, the alert will be sent out from the server from our dispatch center to the app, and then someone that's within that quarter mile area will receive that notification."

Anyone can download the app, but you need to be CPR-trained to be in the network of people to receive cardiac arrest alerts. The app will also send out information on other emergencies, such as fires or crashes.